Bill Clifton  – Born April 5, 1931

Bill Clifton reached adulthood while bluegrass music was in its infancy.  He began his entertainment career singing and playing his guitar at radio station WINA in Charlottesville, VA, in 1949.  He also performed at local area barn dances while a student at the University Of Virginia in Charlottesville, where he later earned his Masters Degree under his birth name, William Marburg. He organized Bill Clifton & The Dixie Mountain Boys, recording in 1954 for the Blue Ridge label, of which he later became a part owner, with further record issues, also singles, on Mercury and Kapp labels.  His most prolific recording was with Starday Records in Nashville. Starday and its budget label, Nashville Records, released a number of singles and a total of seven LP’s by Bill Clifton & The Dixie Mountain Boys. During this period Clifton was also active in organizational and promotional work with events such as the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, RI and one of the early single-day, multi-artist outdoor bluegrass events held at Luray, VA, on July 4^th, 1961.  Long a student and researcher in American and English folklore, Clifton relocated to southern England in 1963, about the time his Starday contract ended.  Through his recordings, he had built a sizable following overseas and from his home in England he organized many folk clubs throughout Europe, promoting and greatly expanding the market for American bluegrass and folk music on the continent.  His work there created a fan base that has endured and continues to benefit younger artists touring in European countries.  Returning to the U.S. in 1977, he has since traveled periodically to Europe and Japan for tours and has recorded several LP’s of his own and in collaborations with other artists, such as his longtime touring partner, Red Rector.  Clifton’s valuable catalog of recorded songs includes “Mary Dear,” “Little Whitewashed Chimney,” “Walkin’ In My Sleep,” “Are You Alone?,” “Going Back To Dixie” and “Blue Ridge Mountain Blues.”  Sung in his strong, rich voice with driving, traditional bluegrass instrumentation, these and other of his songs received heavy airplay on many of the country record shows of the late 1950’s to the mid-‘60’s era.  In 1992 the IBMA honored Bill Clifton with a Distinguished Achievement Award for his accomplishments.    

Charles Wolfe – Born August 14, 1943

A self-described “cultural historian,” Charles K. Wolfe earned a Ph.D from the University of Kansas.  An intense interest in old-time fiddle music plus a desire to learn more about southern popular country music led him to accept employment at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1970.  Here he taught English, science fiction and folklore until his retirement in 2005.  Wolfe was in his element in middle Tennessee; a 30 minute drive from Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry; 15 miles from the birthplace and home of the legendary Uncle Dave Macon at Readyville in adjoining Cannon County and easy access to numerous musicians and entertainers who lived in the area and were legends or legends of the future.  Here he did invaluable research and interviews with surviving members of the early bands that were preserved in his later writing.  Soon after moving to Tennessee he joined the Tennessee Valley Old-Time Fiddlers Association where he judged many contests and came to know numerous fiddlers.  He contributed to the organization’s publication, The Devil’s Box, a quarterly with a wide circulation.  But the legacy of Charles Wolfe is his prolific work as an author of books, largely historical in nature, that provide a priceless written and photographic documentation of the early days of southern country music and its people. Some examples are DeFord Bailey; A Black Star in Country Music, co-written with David Morton, and A Good-Natured Riot: The Birth of The Grand Ole Opry, a 1999 winner of two national book awards.  He also authored many liner notes for albums.  For more than 25 years he was very active in the production of the Uncle Dave Macon Days celebration, held each July in Murfreesboro and he received three Grammy nominations for his work on an album project of obscure, previously unknown, Macon recordings.  Charles Wolfe was born August 14, 1943 in Sedalia, Missouri and died February 9, 2006, in Murfreesboro.  The IBMA honored Dr. Charles Wolfe in 1990 with its Distinguished Achievement Award.